On August 30, 1936, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited the Black Hills to dedicate the Jefferson sculpture. Roosevelt was already in the region on a tour of Great Plains states hard-hit by the drought of the 1930s.
In the photo above, sculptor Gutzon Borglum stands to Roosevelt's left. South Dakota Governor Tom Berry is on FDR's right.
The clip below contains two newsreel films. In the second, Roosevelt is shown speaking extemporaneously about the significance of Mount Rushmore and its place in history.
OTHER MEDIA
Much more historical footage is available in PBS's "American Experience: Mount Rushmore."